Cry For Justice #7 Review

I haven’t exactly been trying to keep it a secret that I don’t care for Cry For Justice. I wanted to, I really did. I’ve liked a lot of Robinson’s past work, I’m a huge JLA fan, and the concept sounded interesting. This is me letting you know up front that the last issue is finally out, and I think it’s been HORRIBLE. Issue seven is no exception. Here’s the cover for spoiler space.

Cry for Justice #7

The issue opens with Prometheus strapped to his GL-generated chair, gloating, as Green Arrow is restrained by Hal and Jay Garrick from beating the information out of him about the devices Prometheus has scattered all over, threatening cities. Prom has offered the deal of “Let me go and I tell you how to shut them down,” which the heroes react to about as well as you’d expect. Star City, GA’s long time home, is the first to have a device go active, and we see scenes of the city slowly being destroyed. Heroes start teleporting all over to try and find the other devices, and we cut to Star City, where Speedy II battles the Electrocutioner. We see Speedy almost killed by falling debris, only to be rescued by Donna Troy as Firestorm (finally drawn correctly as of last issue, only took them 6 months to do it) and Starfire try and save various residents of the city. Donna and Speedy get to Ollie’s house in time to see a grieving Black Canary and Green Arrow standing over the body of Lian Harper. Yes, James “Watch me kill the DC Universe” Robinson has now taken his war on supporting characters to a roughly eight year old girl who had ENORMOUS story potential for the future.

We see that the devices are not working quite right- rather than being teleported away, the cities targeted are simply being destroyed. Prometheus refuses to help when Atom appeals to him. Canary seems to be among the first to realize they are going to have to take his deal. This kind of intelligence and being able to see reality is why I think she made a great leader of the JLA before they screwed that all up, and why I dropped the Green Arrow/Black Canary book months ago, tired of seeing her depicted as a damsel in distress more often than a capable hero in her own right. But, I digress.

We see Flashes Wally and Jay, unable to get to the device that threatens Keystone and Central Cities, as the river above it prevents them using their powers, while the Sea Devils try to disarm it below the surface. Atom brings Miss Martian to the satellite to try and pull the deactivation codes (“Each one is different” Prometheus gloats) from the prisoner’s head, and she collapses, Prom apparently having psi-screened his mind somehow. Shade can’t teleport the device out of Opal, apparently the darkness of his powers speeds the countdown up. Congorilla and Starman try and save more citizenry, while utterly obscure heroes Bulleteer and Mr. Scarlet find and rescue Freddie Freeman. He calls the magic of Shazam down on the device in Fawcett… and you guessed it, speeds up the countdown. Atom and Vixen waste their breath trying to appeal to Prom that thousands are dying. He comes back with “Oh, I think you’re downplaying the death toll, Palmer. Free me and the death ends.”

Vixen, hugely out of character naive, can’t believe Prom can just let people die like this. The heroes debate what to do, and finally, a bit surprisingly, the big speech comes from Oliver Queen, saying that despite what he’s done, not letting Prometheus go will cause so many more to die, they have to do it. He’s released, the codes go out, and the devices stop, but we’re treated to a two page spread of the devastation of what used to be Star City, mostly in ruins.

In Prometheus’ home, that strange hidey hole of his between dimensions, Prom gloats over his captive, the villain known as Professor IQ, who Prom reduced to a babbling idiot a few issues ago. Prom isn’t sure whether to restore IQ’s brilliance and force him to correct the technologies that destroyed instead of teleporting, or leave him as is, remarking that currently the heroes are recovering from the Blackest Night, so they are distracted. He hears something, turns, and Ollie shoots him in the head, apparently killing him. Ollie poses dramatically, spouts off the catch line of “Justice,” and walks off as the story ends and Prom lies there, bleeding.

Ok…. what I liked and what I didn’t. I will give a point to the speech Ollie made, rising above his own personal loss (Roy’s crippling, Lian’s death) to make the appeal to release Prometheus to prevent more deaths. I also am very grateful this issue ends this fiasco. That’s it.

What I didn’t- where to start? Lian had so much potential, as I said above, and she’s killed for another cheap shock moment. The person who would be most affected by her death, her father Roy, doesn’t even know what happened as he’s still in the coma Prometheus put him in. GREAT thinking Ollie, by the way- Prometheus might have some info on how to help at least heal Roy a bit, but no, you just up and kill him in cold blood. Enter, the hero? Prometheus has found a way to protect his devices from each city’s champions, even such differing powers as speed, GL energy, and magic? I don’t buy it. And here’s a thought- the Flashes can’t uncover their bomb from the bottom of the river, to counter their powers. Shade cant’ teleport his, as the darkness speeds the countdown. Well, far as I know, it tends to be pretty dark at the bottom of a river, especially one next to an industrial city. Clearly, the protections aren’t all the same, so why not have Shade teleport THAT one? No, no, that would make SENSE. Can’t do that. Miss Martian gets a psychic backlash trying to probe Prom’s mind for the deactivation codes. Here’s an idea- if you’re fighting a Batman level foe, how about you take the HELMET off BEFORE you bring in the telepath? Oh, and again, artistic error, but last issue Donna shredded his costume beating him, but by issue’s end when he’s in the GL chair, the costume is restored. Lovely quality control there on the art work. Or did the heroes fix it for him? Also, when Atom first goes to try and get the codes from Prometheus, his body is still distorted from the attack last issue, so badly he’s on crutches. But by partway through, he’s fine, healthy, and back in action, of course with no explanation. Nor do we know why Shade’s black hair is grey, or why the GL chair shifts from a ring contruct to what looks like granite part way through.

I’ve not liked this story line from near the beginning. We’ve seen heroes out of character, acting stupidly, in the wrong cities of operation, and drawn wrong. Those who were defending the series kept saying things like “Oh, it’s ok, they are just building Prometheus back up to be an incredibly dangerous foe, like he was supposed to be.” Well… great. Now he’s dead. So no real big build up there, was there? So we end with what here? The villain won, many characters died, and Green Arrow decided to become a murderer. Interesting that Prometheus can outfight the Flashes and Kryptonians, deflect energy blasts away, but can’t stop a simple incoming arrow. I’ve tried to stay semi-objective on these reviews, but I just can’t anymore. This was badly done all the way along.

Tags: Cry for Justice